Shhh ... It's a Secret (Door, Room, Staircase)
Whether you're the cloak-and-dagger type or just want some practical storage, hidden places in the home show their appeal
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Raise your hand if you used to watch The Munsters TV show and secretly envied the cool lifting staircase where Spot, the pet dragon, lived below. My hand is way up. The Munster mansion was positively riddled with secret rooms and hidden compartments. Grandpa's laboratory was accessed through a trapdoor in the floor. Once you were in the lab, if you pushed on a stone in the wall, part of the stone wall swung away to reveal a dungeon. When Herman had a call to make, he tugged on a bellpull, the wall slid open, and a coffin glided out and opened to reveal the phone. Pretty slick. And those were just some of the secret doors and hidden rooms. You'll have to watch the reruns and see how many others you can spot.
You may not have a laboratory, a dungeon or dragon, and you probably use a cell phone that you can just hide in a pocket, but that doesn't mean hidden rooms, passageways or compartments aren't a great idea. Check out how these homeowners created a little mystery and fun in their homes. Is there anything you'd like to hide?
You may not have a laboratory, a dungeon or dragon, and you probably use a cell phone that you can just hide in a pocket, but that doesn't mean hidden rooms, passageways or compartments aren't a great idea. Check out how these homeowners created a little mystery and fun in their homes. Is there anything you'd like to hide?
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| You really can have that lifting staircase in your own home without the creepy Munster décor. This one conceals another staircase to a lower level. This is a lot more interesting than a coat closet. I just don't know how I would keep it a secret, because I would want to show it to everyone. |
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| This wine cellar has a bounty of storage out in plain view. However ... |
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... the really valuable vintages get stashed in a second wine cellar revealed when this entire storage wall opens up. Great idea to use a wine cellar to hide your wine cellar.
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by Will Waibel
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| In the movies, we often see a wall safe hidden by art. What about using art to hide things that just aren't that pretty to look at? Framed movie posters can be the perfect way to hide AV components and that collection of DVDs. |
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| I began thinking about this when one of my clients requested a hidden room for guns. The client wanted to be sure the guns were secure and hidden in case of a burglary. If what you are hiding is dangerous, put it behind a heavy-duty door that can be locked. The lock is important in case someone discovers your secret spot, but the hidden access behind a bookcase keeps people from even thinking that there might be something back there. |
by Workshop/apd
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This photo and the next three show a wall with sliding panels that seem to be as much for aesthetic appeal as they are for hiding storage compartments and the entrance to a bedroom.
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by Workshop/apd
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| The ladder rolls all along the wall for access to upper storage. The wall panel on the left has rolled back to reveal storage. The decorative metal panel slides to the right to show another door behind it. |
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by Workshop/apd
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| When the white wall panel to the left is open to reveal the storage, it is hiding the office. |
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by Workshop/apd
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| A bedroom is behind the decorative metal panel and a white door. A real sense of privacy is created when the bedroom entrance is behind two layers. |
| The best way to hide the entrance to a room is to keep people from suspecting it is there in the first place. This paneling on the whole wall on both sides of the fireplace looks like a normal wall treatment in an upscale home. |
| Who would even guess one of the panels opens? The hardware you choose needs to be completely invisible. For this type of door take a look at this invisible hinge from Soss. |
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by lualdiporte.com
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| These doors aren't actually hidden, since they have handles. But if they were used with the hardware shown in the previous photo instead, people would never guess that they aren't solid walls, because they go floor to ceiling and the wood is continued in paneling around the room. |
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by GRADA Inc.
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| Instead of concealing a door within a wall, how about making the entire wall the entrance? You would think this is the end wall of a niche, but the entire wall slides back to reveal a great little sitting room. It gives a whole new meaning to the thought of a hideaway. |
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| Using bookcases is by far the number-one way that a hidden room is concealed. I think this works best when you have a library or an office with several bookcases lined up so that nothing looks out of place or leads people to suspect a hidden door. But how do you make a recessed bookcase swing open? Read on. |
| Here is the hardware you need to make a recessed bookcase glide forward and then swing to the side. |
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| A display case is a little less likely to arouse suspicion. Use museum wax to secure objects to the shelves. |
Back again to the idea of all that usable space under the stairs. You don't have to hide an entire room; drawers under the risers are a great idea. And if you just remove the noticeable handle ...
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... and use a small piece of almost-hidden pull or push latch hardware, then you have a handy secret compartment — a great idea, even if it's just for hiding shoes.
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| The compartments under this stairway could be completely secret without the pulls. Again, push latch hardware would do the trick. |
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And look at how handy it is to access all of that storage when it all slides right out instead of you having to crawl into that deep, dark closet.
So tell us: What would you put in a secret compartment?
More:
Secret Passages and Hidden Spots
Blended Doors for Standout Style
So tell us: What would you put in a secret compartment?
More:
Secret Passages and Hidden Spots
Blended Doors for Standout Style
Ideabook published on March 27, 2012.
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How do you find someone to do this?!!
Thanks for the photo sharing! Great ideas!
Pattimay -- All the secret spots you see above were created by interior designers and architects ... so you can come right here to find us. Although you may not be able to hide an entire room in a small house, you might be able to have a false back to a closet to hide valuables, or a secret compartment sunk between floor joists ... just for a couple of ideas off the top of my head. Depends on what you want to hide.
In our previous home similar to the bookcase concept, we had a custom made Billiard Cue Rack that concealed and gave easy access to plumbing (which was far too costly to relocate).
mrsben -- the billiard rack is a great idea! I would never guess there was something behind it.
kellchas -- Thank you for sharing the photos. I was surprised to see that the bottom molding stays put while the door slides. Clever design and SO much nicer looking than a standard door in the wall would have been!
Auie -- You've been thinking about this. A great spot to just relax with no interruptions would be a real haven.
Katherine Likely -- It doesn't show in the photo, but that one with the chandelier behind the sliding white wall actually does have a nice big window. I suppose with a larger home, once people are inside, they wouldn't really know if they are seeing all the rooms. Then if you have an extra large room, there's always the thought of walling off part of it to create a secret compartment or closet. Nobody would know that the "false wall" wasn't the end of the room. Makes ya' put your thinking cap on, doesn't it?
I've no idea what to do with the room... our dressing room is enormous, we have a large kitchenette, tonnes of linen storage, already have a study and a craft room. It's not big enough to do anything large with. Apart from store kids Christmas/Birthday presents i've got no use for it.
Any suggestions?
I asked the realtor, you are up in this hidden space which they had a bed, a refrigerator, a chair and a large tv which is nice, but once you are up here and you close the hidden stairs for privacy what happens if the power goes out? You are two stories high, no large window because it's a hidden space - only a pretty little circle window and you are trapped?
Their reply... we never thought of that, if you buy the house, don't use that room!
A note - Be sure your hidden room has either two ways in and out or isn't used with a remote and dependent on power and keep your cell phone with you!
Love the hidden rooms under stairs for shoes in the last few photos.
One time, we took a flashlight, open the door, and nothing attacked us. We looked to the left and there was a small crawl space, that headed to the back of the room we played in.
We crawled all the wayback as far as we could go, and there was an area where we could stand up. We, all three of us kids stood up, used our flashlights, and saw a cord with a light bulb and a string. We pulled the string, and unbelievable the light came on. It was another whole room, larger than the one we had been playing in. It was just amazing to us! Not just the room, but that it had a light. There were just floor boards, but other than the dust and cobwebs, it was perfect for us, and we could have all/any secret meetings there. No one ever knew.
I have been enthralled with secret rooms ever since I read my first whole book, "The Secret Garden", and having that room, in my own house was just perfect. 50 years later, and I am still in love with secret rooms.
But when I began moving things around in there, I realized there was extra space on EACH side of the landing, so I crawled back under it. To the left was the expected area under the first few steps. But to the right was an entire small room with no access except under the landing. Because the adjacent rooms all had large fireplaces, and were not square but had angled walls, the secret space was not even missed.
I considered putting a doorway through from one of the three adjacent rooms, none of which had a closet. But in the end I decided it would be a perfect place to hide Christmas gifts and anything else I didn't want the kids to find. I was told a few years later by a friend who was familiar with the area's history that given the home's proximity to the Ohio River, the room's most likely purpose was as a hidey hole for people escaping slavery. I never knew for certain, but would like to think that our home did play a part in that noble cause.